On 14 October 2026, Forum Basiliense welcomes Dr Natalie Langford for a talk on the contested politics of cross-border deforestation governance.

Under the title “Governing Deforestation Across Borders: How colonial legacies are shaping political contestation between the European Union and Malaysia in the palm oil sector”, Natalie will explore the political reception of the EU’s approach to deforestation in Malaysia and how contemporary disputes are shaped by colonial and postcolonial legacies.

Natalie is a political economist and Lecturer in Sustainability at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on sustainability governance in global supply chains, particularly in the palm oil and tea sectors. She is currently spending two months at the University of Basel as a Forum Basiliense Fellow.